You won't want to share a slice of this Strawberry Cake, which has strawberry Jell-O and fresh berries mixed into the batter and frosting.
(Michael Paulsen, Staff)

You won't want to share a slice of this Strawberry Cake, which has...

Senator Russell's Sweet Potatoes are a rich side dish that Victoria and Joel Osteen serve on special occasions such as Thanksgiving and Christmas. If you don't like your sides too sweet, just call it dessert.
(Michael Paulsen, Staff)

Senator Russell's Sweet Potatoes are a rich side dish that Victoria...

Cowen was inspired to write "Sunday Dinners" in 2009. To her delight, several pastors agreed to contribute stories and recipes.
(Andrews McMeel Publishing)

Sunday, in the Christian tradition, is the intersection of food and religion. It's the high point of the workweek for most pastors, and the dinners that follow provide the time to rest and enjoy family, friends and fellowship.

Joel and Victoria Osteen came to mind as a pastoral couple who relaxed after church with a big family dinner. So did Ed and Jo Beth Young. And George and Joan Foreman. And, of course, Kirbyjon and Suzette Caldwell.

In 2010, Cowen put together a book proposal. Today she has the finished product, "Sunday Dinners - Food, Family and Faith from Our Favorite Pastors" (Andrews McMeel Publishing, $24.99).

Cowen was thrilled when all the couples she contacted - including the heavy hitters in Houston, Bishop T. D. and Serita Jakes in Dallas, pastors Samuel and Eva Rodriguez in Elk Grove, Calif., and the Revs. Floyd and Elaine Flake in Queens, N.Y., shared favorite family stories and treasured recipes.

Victoria Osteen, co-pastor of Lakewood Church, wrote the foreward and contributed recipes steeped in Southern tradition. Several, including her recipes for turkey, super-rich sweet potatoes, cornbread dressing and banana-berry cream pie, are holiday specials. Texas fudge cake, on the other hand, is a staple in the Osteens' kitchen.

"We've always been people who sit around a table and talk and eat," Victoria Osteen told Cowen. "The table is a real gathering place."

The Caldwells, who have built Windsor Village United Methodist Church into the largest United Methodist church in the country, are usually busy with church matters well past the traditional Sunday lunch. But the afternoon and evening are reserved for the nuclear family, and Suzette Caldwell often stops by the store so that the ingredients for dinner are as fresh as possible.

The three Caldwell children love their mom's marinated grilled chicken, cinnamon-raisin biscuits and spritz cookies. Their dad's best dish is his old-fashioned macaroni and cheese.

"As a relatively older dad, I am particularly aware of being involved in the children's lives," Kirbyjon Caldwell told Cowen. "When life is testy to them, later and always, I want them to know they can come to Mom and Dad."

Cowen tested all of the recipes in "Sunday Dinners," and there are dozens of them. Many Sunday evenings, she invited friends over to sample the dishes. Some sounded great but needed tweaking because Cowen could only guess at the measurements. They were recipes handed down through the generations, and they called for a pinch of this and a scoop of that.

She'd never baked a cake that called for strawberry Jell-O and a cake mix in the ingredients. As it turned out, her friends started with one piece of the strawberry cake contributed by the Rev. Mike and Jeannie Glenn of Tennessee, then demanded more.

"Get your own. I'm not sharing," one friend said.

Collectively, the families in "Sunday Dinners" are ambassadors for great food, strong families and deep faith. Cowen, who was born and raised in Indiana, experienced the power of all three as she was growing up, and that helped her tell the stories of the pastors.

One chapter is devoted to the Rev. Martin Lam Nguyen, who fled his native Vietnam in a small boat after the fall of Saigon. Even as a boy, he was deeply religious and relished the culinary traditions of his home country. Today, he lives on the campus of the University of Notre Dame, where he teaches students they can and should mix food and faith to form familial connections.

Nguyen is adviser to the college's Vietnamese Student Association, and on Sundays he conducts Mass in Vietnamese for them, then they share a meal together. Sometimes he cooks, but sometimes, he says proudly, they cook for him.

"It's a blessing, a great blessing," he told Cowen. "I assume we will have a great time eating the food. When I gather with people, food is another medium to communicate."

Another chapter is devoted to the Rev. Randy and Rozanne Frazee, of Oak Hills Church in San Antonio. At any given time, their dinner-table companions may include their grown children, extended family members and neighbors with "refrigerator rights."

Part of the meal-time ritual includes going around the table and allowing each person to share the details of his or her day.

Once a young visitor actually burst into tears when it was her turn to speak, Randy Frazee told Cowen. When she composed herself, she explained that she always wanted to be part of a close-knit family that asked such questions and listened to the answers.

Another chapter in the book focuses on the Rodriguezes of California. Sam Rodriguez is the president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, which serves 15 million Hispanic Christians and has more than 40,000 member churches. He and wife Eva are both senior pastors at New Season Cantico Nuevo, Assemblies of God churches.

During Sunday dinner, however, the Rodriguezes focus on their kids.

"Our family dinners are a constant affirmation of our core values," Sam Rodriguez told Cowen. "I want my children to see transparency, to see what integrity looks like. Life at home should not differ from life in the pulpit. We want them to see that we are living out the Gospel and not just preaching it."

When Cowen was growing up, she and her family went to church, then shared Sunday dinner.

Sometimes they ate at home. Sometimes they ate with relatives at their homes, and sometimes, as a special treat, they ate at a restaurant that is long gone, Frisch's Big Boy.

Cowen still remembers their spaghetti and strawberry pie, which her dad usually helped her finish.

But wherever they ate, Sunday was the day to focus on family.

It's a simple message, Cowen says. "Life is better because we're all in it together."

Instructions: Put the pork roast in a slow cooker, then add both cans of tomatoes.

Mince the chipotle pepper and add it and the adobo sauce to the slow cooker. Add the onion, salt, pepper, oregano and bay leaves.

Cover the slow cooker and cook on high for 4 hours or on low for 8 hours.

Remove the roast from the slow cooker and place it in a shallow baking dish or on a cutting board.

Remove any excess fat, then pull apart the meat using two forks.

Serve the pulled pork on tortillas with sour cream, cilantro, cheese and the juice from the lime slices.

Senator Russell's Sweet Potatoes

Serves 12

Potatoes

10 medium-size sweet potatoes

2 large eggs

1 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

¾ cup milk

½ cup (1 stick) butter, melted

Topping

2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar

½ cup all-purpose flour

½ cup (1 stick) butter, melted

2 cups chopped pecans

Instructions: Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Make the potatoes: Bake the sweet potatoes until soft, 35 to 40 minutes. Allow them to cool enough to be handled, then peel and mash them. Push the potatoes through a ricer or sieve and place in a large bowl.

In a small bowl, mix together the eggs, sugar, vanilla, milk, and butter. Add to the sweet potatoes and mix.

Pour the potato mixture into a 9-by-13-inch baking pan.

Make the topping: Whisk together the brown sugar and flour. Stir in the melted butter until crumbly, then add the pecans. (If the mixture isn't crumbly, add more sugar.)

Sprinkle the topping over the potato mixture and bake for 50 minutes or until the topping is bubbly.

Make the cake: In a large bowl, mix all of the cake ingredients until combined. Divide the batter between the cake pans and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Set on wire racks to cool.

Make the frosting: Put the strawberries in a small, microwave-safe bowl and microwave briefly to thaw. Drain off the juice from the berries and brush the juice over each layer of cake. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on low speed, combine the margarine with the confectioners' sugar. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat until the frosting is light and fluffy.

Add the strawberries and continue mixing until the strawberries are completely incorporated and the frosting is pink. Invert one cake layer onto a cake plate. Spread ¾ cup of frosting onto the top of the cake.

Invert the second layer of cake onto another plate, then transfer it to the top of the frosted bottom layer of the cake.

Cover the top and sides of the cake with the remaining frosting. Cut into 12 slices and serve.

Cinnamon- Raisin Biscuits

Serves 12

4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

2 tablespoons baking powder

1 teaspoon coarse salt

5 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into pieces

2 cups heavy cream

1 cup raisins

1 cup confectioners' sugar

3 tablespoons whole milk

Instructions: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, and cinnamon. Using a pastry blender or fork, cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Add the cream and stir just until the dough comes together. (The mixture will be sticky.)

Add the raisins and incorporate into the dough gently and quickly. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and, with floured fingers, knead the dough until it forms a ball. Sprinkle flour on the work surface and lightly dust the dough to keep it from sticking.

Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough to a 1-inch thickness. Use a biscuit or cookie cutter to cut out biscuits.

Place the biscuits on the prepared baking sheet and bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until lightly browned.

To make a glaze, sift the confectioners' sugar into a small mixing bowl, then add the milk 1 tablespoon at a time until you reach a thin, but not runny, consistency.

Allow the biscuits to cool for a few minutes, then top with the glaze and serve while they're still warm.

Meet the author

Diane Cowen will sign copies of "Sunday Dinners" at several sites across Houston.